She Used to Be Mine (Broadway’s ‘Waitress’)

“Sometimes life just slips in through a back door and carves out a person and makes you believe it’s all true….”

There are certain songs that feel as if the songwriter went into my head while I was sleeping, pulled out my thoughts, and put them to music. This is how I feel about “She Used to Be Mine” by Sara Bareilles (as well as many, many other Bareilles tunes).

In 2013, an all female team was compiled to head up bringing the quirky indie film hit, Waitress, starring Kerri Russell and written and directed by Adrienne Shelly, to the stage. Sara Bareilles was brought on to write the lyrics and music which helped shape the musical that recently debuted on Broadway. Although all of the songs are outstanding, it is the musical’s popular ballad that wrecks me every time I hear it.

“She Used to Be Mine” was initially released by Bareilles on her album, What’s Inside: Songs from Waitress and has been heralded as both powerful and poignant. Sara’s version is hauntingly beautiful but the song is even more compelling when Jessie Mueller (Beautiful: The Carole King Musical) sings in character on stage.

Watch below as Sara Bareilles and Jessie Mueller perform a duet version of ‘She Used to Be Mine’ at the Tony Awards earlier this month: